This invention relates to credit cards or bank cards and the like and, more particularly, to methods for enhancing the value of a credit card, both to a holder or user of the card and to the bank or other issuer of the card.
Credit cards, which are devices most commonly represented by a plastic card-like member through the use of which an authorized user pays for, by way of example, services and/or merchandise and the like, have become so universally well known and ubiquitous as to have fundamentally changed the very manner in which financial transactions and dealings are viewed and conducted in society today. Such credit cards are generally issued by a bank and provide a mechanism by which a user purchases goods without an immediate, direct exchange of cash and thereby incurs debt which the user may thereafter (i.e. upon receipt of a monthly or otherwise periodic statement) either pay the outstanding balance or, as a matter of choice, defer the balance for later payment with accompanying interest or finance charges for the period during which payment of the debt is deferred.
Increasingly, credit cards are being issued by banks and the like in association with another organization such, for example, as commercial enterprises which themselves offer or sell goods and/or services. This phenomenon, known as co-branding, provides a credit card that typically carries the name of a commercial company, with the commercial company or co-branding xe2x80x9cpartnerxe2x80x9d bringing to the card holder or user added benefits which, not incidentally, assist the partner in the sale of its goods or services to the card user. Well known and successful examples of such co-branded cards include the General Motors MasterCard credit cardxe2x80x94offering users up to a five-percent rebate on user-purchased General Motors automobiles, based on the volume of charges placed on the user""s cardxe2x80x94and airline-partnered credit cards which award the card user frequent flyer mileage on the basis of user-acrued card charges.
Current co-branded credit cards, although successful, may nevertheless lack additional actual or perceived advantages, to the user and/or to the issuer and/or commercial partner, which may perhaps otherwise be available or attainable. For example, the rapid proliferation of co-branded cards offering seemingly ever-increasing amounts or levels of user-earned xe2x80x9cbenefitsxe2x80x9d encourages individual users or subscribers to obtain multiple credit cards, by which users often correspondingly split or divide their purchases and transactionsxe2x80x94previously charged on a single cardxe2x80x94between a number of cards, thereby decreasing the transaction volume of each card at the expense of one or more others. Moreover, permitting users to earn awards based on purchases encourages users to incur increasing amounts of debt, at times exceeding the amount that a user is reasonably capable of repaying in a timely manner, increasing the possibility of user default with consequent damage to the bank, to the commercial partner, and/or to the organization whose goods or services were charged in the user""s transactions with the card.
Accordingly, it is the principle of the invention to provide methods for enhancing the value of a substantially conventional credit card so as to enhance a user""s or potential user""s perception of the desirability of holding or subscribing to the card and encourage increased use of the card for its normal utility as a payment device, all without the disadvantages of the prior art.
The above problems and others are at least partially solved and the above purposes and others realized in a method that includes providing an authorized user of a credit card issued by a service provider, the authorized user referring a customer to the service provider for credit card services, the customer submitting an application for credit card services to the service provider, the service provider receiving and processing and approving the application and issuing a credit card to the customer establishing a referred authorized user of a credit card, and in consideration therefore to the authorized user issuing valuable consideration to the authorized user. The step of the customer submitting an application for credit card services to the service provider further includes the customer designating the authorized user as a referring party, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/or numbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized user by the service provider. In a preferred embodiment the valuable consideration is a monetary payment. In another embodiment, the valuable consideration is as gift such as one or more gift certificates for products and/or services, one or more free products and/or services, etc., whether provided by the service provider or other participating vendor such as a restaurant, retail concern, etc.
The invention further provides the authorized user incurring debt on the credit card. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by the authorized user on the credit card, the method further includes the service provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of the authorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of the entries. The referred authorized user can participate in the foregoing method by referring a customer to the service provider for credit card services, and so on and so forth. Although it is preferred that the service provider conduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided by one or more other parties, such as with an independent lottery/sweepstakes.
The referred authorized user, who will now be referred to as a first referred authorized user, can participate in the instant method. Consistent with the foregoing, the invention further provides the first referred authorized user referring a second customer to the service provider for credit card services, the second customer submitting an application for credit card services to the service provider, the service provider receiving and processing and approving the application and issuing a credit card to the second customer establishing a second referred authorized user of a credit card, and in consideration therefore to the first referred authorized user the service provider issuing valuable consideration to the first referred authorized user. The step of the second customer submitting an application for credit card services to the service provider further includes the second customer designating the first referred authorized user as a referring party, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/or numbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized user by the service provider. The invention further provides the second referred authorized user incurring debt on the credit card. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by the second referred authorized user on the credit card, the method further includes the service provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of the second referred authorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the second referred authorized user is one of the entries. Although it is preferred that the service provider conduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided by one or more other parties, such as with an independent lottery/sweepstakes.
Another method embodiment includes providing an authorized user of a credit card issued by a service provider, the authorized user referring customers to the service provider for credit card services, the customers submitting applications for credit card services to the service provider, the service provider receiving and processing and approving the applications and issuing credit cards to the customers establishing referred authorized users of credit cards, and in consideration therefore to the authorized user issuing valuable consideration to the authorized user. The customers submitting applications for credit card services to the service provider further includes the customers designating the authorized user as a referring party, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/or numbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized user by the service provider. The valuable consideration is a monetary payment. In another embodiment, the valuable consideration is as gift such as one or more gift certificates for products and/or services, one or more free products and/or services, etc., whether provided by the service provider or other participating vendor such as a restaurant, retail concern, etc. The immediate embodiment further provides the authorized user incurring debt on the credit card. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by the authorized user on the credit card, the method further includes the service provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of the authorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of the entries. The referred authorized users can participate in the foregoing method by referring customers to the service provider for credit card services as explained above, and so on and so forth. In accordance with this embodiment, it will be understood that although it is preferred that the service provider conduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided by one or more other parties, such as with an independent lottery/sweepstakes.
Yet another method embodiment includes providing an authorized user of a credit card issued by a service provider, the authorized user referring customers to the service provider for credit card services, the customers submitting applications for credit card services to the service provider, the service provider receiving and processing and approving the applications and issuing credit cards to the customers establishing referred authorized users of credit cards, and in consideration therefore to the authorized user, issuing valuable consideration to the authorized user for every predetermined number of referred authorized users of credit cards. The customers submitting applications for credit card services to the service provider further includes the customers designating the authorized user as a referring party, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/or numbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized user by the service provider. The valuable consideration is a monetary payment. In another embodiment, the valuable consideration is as gift such as one or more gift certificates for products and/or services, one or more free products and/or services, etc., whether provided by the service provider or other participating vendor such as restaurant, retail concern, etc. The invention further provides the authorized user incurring debt on the credit card. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by the authorized user on the credit card, the method further includes the service provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of the authorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of the entries. The referred authorized users can participate in the foregoing method by referring customers to the service provider for credit card services, and so on and so forth. In accordance with the immediate embodiment, it is to be understood that although it is preferred that the service provider conduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided by one or more other parties, such as with an independent lottery/sweepstakes.
Consistent with the foregoing summary of various embodiments of the invention and the teachings set forth in the ensuing detailed description of preferred embodiments, which are taken together, the invention also contemplates associated method embodiments.